A new study out today provides further proof of why the movement is a lot more than hype. DevOps is a paradigm shift in software engineering and deployment practice that is delivering tangible benefits, both in terms of lower development costs and improved application quality.

CA Technologies commissioned Vanson Bourne to survey 1,425 senior IT and line-of-business execs at big companies. By big, we mean those with revenue over $500 million per year. Industries represented in the study included financial services, health care, retail, telecom and media/entertainment organizations around the world.

An uptick in their businesses of up to 21 percent, as measured by increased customers, faster time to market and improved application performance.

Greater collaboration between departments, to the tune of 27 percent.

One-fourth less time spent fixing and maintaining apps.

Nearly all adopters (95-97 percent) reported an increase in software and services deployments and in their ability to make applications available across platforms — a necessity in the era of responsive apps for all screen sizes.

So, who are the early adopters? (That is, if you can call five years in an early adoption.) According to Vanson Bourne, companies adopting DevOps are more likely to be among the more profitable in their industries and less likely to be among the bottom-feeders (those with less than average profit growth).

The study also found a growing hunger out there for personnel with experience in DevOps techniques and processes. In fact, the top investment item noted by respondents (72 percent of U.S. companies surveyed and 63 percent of those around the world) is “hiring new resources with necessary skills.”

Again, this stuff is old hat to most regular readers of this site. But if you need some help persuading your boss, Vanson Bourne’s whitepaper might prove a handy document to email around the office. Some bosses need to see the evidence in black and white, so … download it for free here.